Draw a Snail From Memory

The snail is on screen for a couple of seconds, then it is gone and the canvas is empty. You draw it back from memory - the long foot along the ground, the round shell sitting on it, the spiral wound inside that shell, and the two eye stalks rising from the head. Your line is scored against the target and laid over it afterwards, so you can see which parts you kept and which ones drifted.

The spiral is what makes this one hard. It has a real number of turns, it starts at the outer edge and finishes at the centre, and it is the first thing a memory smooths into a vague swirl. The other common miss is the shell's position: it sits on top of the foot, roughly above the middle of it, not trailing behind like a shell being dragged.

This is a practice round: played and scored for real, and it changes nothing in your game - no coins, no best score, no unlocks - so you can take it as often as you like, whether or not you have reached Animals in the Shape Challenge.

How the scorer reads a snail

The snail's spiral is 30% of the 128 comparison points on its own - almost as much as the foot (33%) and more than the shell outline around it (25%). The eye stalks and eyes, the part that makes it read as a snail at a glance, are only 12%.

Because the spiral is long, every turn you leave out removes a lot of line: coverage drops, and the comparison points that belong on the inner turns have nothing of yours to match.

Each part's share of the line, and of the scorer's comparison points
Part	Share of the line	Comparison points
Foot	33%	42
Spiral	30%	39
Shell outline	25%	32
Eye stalks and eyes	12%	15

What a missing turn costs

Drawn with a slight, even wobble and nothing else wrong, the snail scores 94. Give the same snail a spiral of 1.2 turns instead of the target's 2.2 - the vague swirl a memory tends to produce - and it scores 73. Shape match falls from 94 to 64, and coverage from 98 to 89.

The snail target in grey with a freehand snail drawn over it in blue whose spiral makes about one turn instead of two — A spiral of 1.2 turns instead of 2.2, over the target. Scored by the game's own scorer: 73 / 100.

Scored by the game's own scorer, out of 100
Attempt	Total	Shape	Coverage	Smoothness	Scale
The same hand, no mistake	94	94	98	77	98
Spiral with 1.2 turns instead of 2.2	73	64	89	75	98

Three drills for the snail

Two turns and a bit. Draw the spiral on its own: start at the top of the shell on its outer edge and wind inwards for just over two full turns, ending close to the centre.
Shell size. The shell's diameter is a little more than half the foot's length. Draw the foot first, then a shell that spans just over half of it.
Shell position. The shell's centre sits about 40% of the way along the foot from the tail - slightly behind the middle, resting on the foot rather than trailing off its end.

Questions people ask

What happens after the shape disappears?: You draw on a blank canvas with no guide underneath, in one attempt. The outline comes back afterwards, laid over your drawing so you can see the difference.
How is my score worked out?: Shape match, coverage, smoothness and scale, combined into one score shown with a star rating and a tip. Shape match counts for the most, at 70%.
Can I play with other people?: Two ways. 2 Players passes one device back and forth, alternating who draws first each round. Multiplayer opens a live room for 2–8 players over 5, 10 or 15 rounds, joined with a six-character code.
How many shapes are there?: 276 shapes across 12 categories, from geometry and letters to animals, food and fantasy.

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